Rabbit Runner

Courier • Smuggler • Messenger of the Underground

                                                                                                            “The road may change, but there is always a way through.”

Introduction

There are places in Underland where messages are worth more than gold.

Rabbit Runners carry letters, contraband, medicine, secrets, and occasionally people through the winding tunnels and dangerous territories between the kingdoms. They know which roads are watched, which mirrors are safe to travel through, and which White Rabbit tunnels haven't collapsed.

A Rabbit Runner doesn't ask what is inside the package.

They ask where it needs to go.

And whether the Ink is following.

Rabbit Runners are couriers, smugglers, scouts, guides, and messengers. Some work openly for merchants and noble houses, while others carry forbidden goods between kingdoms or move messages for the Rebels.

Regardless of who employs them, every Rabbit Runner learns the same lesson:

There is always another road.

Ability Scores: Ability Score Increase. Your time spent traveling dangerous roads and finding ways around obstacles has sharpened your instincts and adaptability. Increase your Dexterity by 2 and your Wisdom by 1, or increase one of these scores by 2 and the other by 1.

Feat:

Rabbit's Instinct

Your life on the road has taught you to react quickly when danger appears.

You gain the following benefits:

• Increase your Dexterity or Wisdom by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You gain proficiency in Stealth or Survival. If you already have proficiency in both, you instead gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
• When you roll initiative, you can immediately determine the safest direction of escape from your current location, provided you have traveled through the area before.
• You have advantage on an ability check made to avoid becoming lost while traveling through a location you are familiar with.

Skill Proficiencies:

Skill Proficiencies: Stealth, Survival

Skill Proficiencies Description:
Rabbit Runners survive by staying unseen and knowing the land beneath their feet. Stealth allows them to slip past guards, patrols, monsters, and unwanted attention, while Survival helps them navigate Underland's shifting roads, tunnels, wilderness, and forgotten passages.

Tool Proficiencies:

Tool Proficiencies

Choose one:

• Thieves' Tools
• Navigator's Tools

Tool Proficiencies Description:
Rabbit Runners often need to bypass locked doors, repair equipment, read maps, navigate underground passages, or find their way through places where conventional directions are useless.

Languages:

Choose one:

• Undercommon
• One language of your choice

Languages Description:
Rabbit Runners travel between kingdoms and frequently deal with people from cultures far beyond their own. Many learn Undercommon to communicate with inhabitants of the deeper tunnels, while others learn the language of a kingdom or community along their route.

Equipment:

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your class:

• A weathered courier satchel
• A folded Underland map covered in handwritten notes
• A set of thieves' tools or navigator's tools
• A small pocket watch that runs backward
• A dark traveling cloak
• 10 gp

Alternatively, you may take the starting wealth determined by your DM.

What's in the Satchel?

Rabbit Runners rarely know exactly what they're carrying. Roll on the table below or choose an option.

d6	Contents
1	A sealed letter addressed to someone who supposedly died years ago
2	A strange mechanical key
3	A vial of glowing blue ink
4	A tiny clockwork rabbit
5	A photograph of a place that no longer exists
6	Something you absolutely were not supposed to open

 

Spell List

Spell List Introduction

Rabbit Runners are not traditionally spellcasters, but some develop strange magical tricks through repeated exposure to Underland's travel magic, enchanted roads, travel mirrors, and unstable Rabbit Holes.

This background does not grant a spell list unless your DM allows the optional spellcasting variant below.

Spell Level	Spells

Spell List Extended

If your DM allows this background to grant spells, you may add the following spells to your class's spell list. The magic is flavored as strange Underland travel magic rather than traditional arcane study.

Extended Spell List:

Spell Level	Spells
Cantrip	Message, Minor Illusion
1st	Expeditious Retreat, Longstrider
2nd	Misty Step, Pass without Trace
3rd	Sending, Haste
4th	Dimension Door, Freedom of Movement
5th	Teleportation Circle, Far Step

Suggested Characteristics

Suggested Characteristics

Rabbit Runners tend to develop personalities shaped by constant travel, danger, secrecy, and the knowledge that something is always waiting at the end of the road.

Use the tables below to determine your character's personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.

Personality Traits

d8	Personality Trait
1	I never walk when I can run.
2	I always know three escape routes.
3	I talk entirely too fast.
4	I collect maps even though half of them are wrong.
5	I trust animals more than people.
6	I become deeply uncomfortable when someone touches my belongings.
7	I always carry snacks.
8	I have a story about almost dying in every kingdom.

Ideals

d6	Ideal
1	Freedom. No kingdom should control where people can go.
2	Secrets. Information belongs to those clever enough to find it.
3	Loyalty. A promise delivered is a promise kept.
4	Rebellion. The Deck cannot control every road forever.
5	Adventure. There is always another path.
6	Survival. The person who keeps moving is the person who survives.

Bonds

d6	Bond
1	Someone is waiting for a message only I can deliver.
2	I owe my life to another Runner.
3	I carry a letter I have sworn never to open.
4	My family disappeared while traveling.
5	I know something about the Ink Master that I shouldn't.
6	There is one route I promised never to travel again.

Flaws

d6	Flaw
1	I cannot resist opening things labeled "DO NOT OPEN."
2	I run when things become emotionally uncomfortable.
3	I never admit when I'm lost.
4	I have stolen from people who trusted me.
5	I know far too many secrets.
6	I will take a dangerous shortcut rather than admit I don't know the way.

Contacts

Contacts Description

Years on the road have given you contacts in places most travelers never reach.

You may know merchants, innkeepers, mechanics, smugglers, couriers, rebels, travelers, guards, or other Runners. These contacts may not always be willing to help, but they recognize the signs of your profession and may know someone who knows someone who can.

Your contacts are not automatically loyal to you. A favor may require another favor, payment, information, or a delivery of its own.

Contact Table

d6	Contact
1	An innkeeper who hides couriers and smugglers in a secret room.
2	A former Royal Courier who knows the old Queen's Roads.
3	A mechanic who repairs damaged Scuttle Bugs and courier equipment.
4	A smuggler who knows how to bypass kingdom checkpoints.
5	A Rebel sympathizer who passes information through coded messages.
6	Another Rabbit Runner who owes you a favor.